LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Maybe this marriage can survive after all. The deal legislative leaders struck with Gov. Mike Beebe to pave the way for the passage of $35 million in tax cuts offered something rarely seen in state capitols: an agreement that managed to give just about all parties something to smile about.
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Gov. Mike Beebe began the legislative session with a challenge to legislators who were floating dozens of tax cut proposals: Show me what to cut in the budget to pay for it. Some Republican lawmakers are all too happy to take him up on that offer. From pay raises to state employees to boosts in funding for education, legislators from the GOP say just about everything is on the table as they continue a push to contain state spending — and possibly make room for other forms of tax relief.
If nothing else, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and the growing ranks of Republican lawmakers have a common declared enemy in the 88th General Assembly: partisanship. More than two months after an election that handed Republicans their greatest numbers in the Legislature since Reconstruction, Beebe and the GOP say they want to avoid the type of party-line fights that have characterized Washington. That’ll be easier said than done.
LITTLE ROCK — (AP) — If Blanche Lincoln was hoping for a game-changer in her uphill fight to save her political career, this wasn’t it. Twelve years ago, Lincoln won her Senate seat in a race where her Republican rival stumbled on the controversial subject of abortion. In her first debate against John Boozman, whose late brother was defeated by Lincoln in 1998, the two-term senator tried to inject the issue one more time.
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Flush with cash and leading in the polls, Gov. Mike Beebe is trying to shore up two potential weak spots in his re-election bid. In other words, he doesn’t want to go down as a governor who let park fees rise and couldn’t keep track of the state’s cars. Beebe’s recent decisions to ask parks officials to halt a planned increase in lodging and camp fees and to order a review of the state’s vehicles show he’s leaving nothing to chance in his re-election bid.
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Gov. Mike Beebe isn’t lacking in campaign cash or high approval numbers as he seeks a second term in office. What he’s lacking instead are the types of sweeping proposals that put the Democrat in the governor’s mansion four years ago. Then, Beebe was running on a platform that included proposals to cut two major taxes, expand pre-kindergarten programs and create an incentive fund to attract new businesses to the state.
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The dustup among Arkansas’ top Democrats over the personal use of their state-issued vehicles doesn’t threaten the party’s control over constitutional offices. But it certainly doesn’t help a party trying to show unity in a tough election year.
LITTLE ROCK. (AP) — The Democratic and Republican primaries for a United States seat in Arkansas on Tuesday may be a referendum on just how deep anti-incumbent sentiment has set in among voters this year.
Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Republican Congressman John Boozman, the front-runner for the GOP nomination for her post, are both being targeted by candidates touting an anti-Washington message.
LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Are Arkansans going to see Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s coach a few more times this fall, or watch Gilbert Baker carry around a blue plastic tarp? How many times are we going to hear Sen. Blanche Lincoln described as “one tough lady,” or see Congressman John Boozman helping people try on eyeglasses?
And will Jim Holt’s ambulance keep rolling around the state, with or without its flashing lights?
ROGERS (AP) — Another state’s controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants is renewing a familiar debate in Arkansas about what the state should do with those who are here illegally.
The issue is an attractive one for election-year politics, but whether it will translate into a major policy shift in Arkansas is a cloudier question.
